Robotic tool holder with passive compliance

4. The mechanism of claim 3 wherein each of the aft and fore air manifolds comprises a groove formed in the main housing connecting the piston bores, a cap covering the groove, and a sealing member disposed between the cap and the main housing.

7. The mechanism of claim 6 wherein the position indicator indicates at least fully retracted and fully extended positions.

8. The mechanism of claim 6 wherein the position indicator comprises a plurality of Light Emitting Diodes, the selective illumination of which encode the plurality of positions of the inner housing.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein obtaining first and second pressure values for each spatial orientation of the robotic finishing tool comprises dynamically calculating the first and second pressure values for each of a plurality of spatial orientations as the robot moves the robotic finishing tool.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the spatial orientation of the robotic finishing tool is determined from the output of a sensor in the compliant robotic finishing tool holding mechanism.